Peter Gauweiler, a lawmaker from the Christian Social Union, sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, said the €500-billion ($630-billion) new ESM fund should not come into force unless the ECB reverses its new programme.

"The ESM - insofar as it is constitutionally viable at all - should only come into force when the ECB has taken back its self-awarded power as a hyper rescue-shield," Gauweiler said in a statement.

He said the fresh complaint could call into question the timing of a hotly-awaited ruling by the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe on a slew of legal challenges to the ESM and the EU's fiscal pact for more budgetary discipline. That ruling is due to be made on Wednesday.

The ECB's decision Thursday to buy unlimited amounts of the bonds of struggling eurozone nations has created a "completely new situation" in the court's deliberations on the ESM, said Gauweiler.

If the Constitutional Court was not able to rule on this latest challenge, it should delay its judgement on the ESM beyond Wednesday, Gauweiler said.

Gauweiler argued the ESM was incompatible with Germany's constitution because it put Europe's top economy and paymaster on the hook for unlimited guarantees and thereby removes democratic control over the country's budgetary planning.

He says that the overall risk to the German federal budget was incalculable, and has filed several legal actions against the euro rescue measures.

The ESM, which will replace the temporary European Financial Stability Facility, should have been up and running by July 1.

But it needs Germany's share of the rescue money to function and has thus been held up pending the Constitutional Court's ruling.

Analysts believe the court will not block the crisis tools. A court spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Your comments about this article

The courts should be against the ESM as the fact if your Finance minister abstains (Playing politics) on a vote to increase the amount in the bail out to an European Country, that abstention is class a a VOTE for the bailout. So finance ministers have to vote NO. This information was taken for an article in Der Spiegel:

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. "But will he have the backbone to vote no when everyone else is in favor?" asks Siekmann. The legal expert explains that even if Schäuble abstains, according to the treaty, it would be counted as a vote in favor. "That's unusual when a unanimous decision is required," criticizes Siekmann, "and it's problematic.

The euro is the first currency ever to be backed by no government, no tax system, no army and no navy. It is backed only by a theory and a set of rules

The EU is on the brink of financial ruin. Bill Clinton preaches to the Democrat Party at their US convention to keep Obama because he is in the process of building a "modern economy". What a joke!! There is no new thing under the sun only variations with cloaks and daggers to dupe the public after dumbing them down educationally and putting as many as possible on the public dole.

I hope the courts are in favor of this lawsuit against the ESM fund. Its purpose is overtly global political maneuvering and nothing more than an attempt by the ECM to hedge up the EU until after the US elections to hopefully keep Barry the Clown in office because they fawn over him and love him.............

Well, smart2012, it's simple ... a few conservative politicians are not quite happy with Merkels Euro-policy, because it MIGHT violate german constitutional law. Fortunately, there is something like a constitutional court in Germany, especially designed for such matters. Unfortunately I have a feeling that the judges won't dare to step in because they fear the consequences.

How could you not want to support fiscally retarded governments? How could you think that this is throwing a lot of good money after bad? Why don't you want some far away administrators telling you how to spend the taxes you paid?

The only reason for these sentiments is that you have been reading the Bild too much. There are NO other explanations for your negative views of the Eurozone.

It is simply not possible that your intellect could have led you to a reasoned conclusion that the Euro is bad for you and your country.

Because the Euro is clearly a good thing. If you were smart, like me, you would see this.

Therefore, you would be doing the whole world a favor if you would be silent.

(And you should try examining the Chinese government more, that is a really excellent system)

The Crown Prince, so i see that u agree that in Germany is all a mess on euro strategy. Does german government want to stay in Europe or not? Why do some hope that a court rules out what it has been agreed by 27 countries incl Germany? We r all confused. Stay and play or get out please. Soros repeated it again today.

Hopefully the Constitutional Court will rule in support of Gauweiler's motion. The other E.U.countries can then become an EFTA 2, a free trade zone withmembers using their own national currencies which would float against the federal single currency, theEuro. The Euro would be used by a Federal Economic Parliament to pay for federal projects that have been passed by the parliament and federal benefits.

Because the national currencies can be devalued, each country can control its life style and standard of living, instead of having to live like money worshipping Germans.

The debt problem can be solved very simply and quickly by establishing a 4 day work week (or equivalent) with a ten percent reduction in worker pay. This will a) solve the unemployment problem and b) vastly reduce the deficits because the national government will spend far less on unemployment and welfare benefits and collect far more tax revenue from the extra workers that are now employed. (Who needs German money, then?)

Full employment will create a strong stimulus to the economy, ending the need for central banks to finance stupid Q.E. programs. The economic stimulus will lead to more consumer purchasing power and higher prices. The initial 10% that industry has to pay ( receiving 20% less work and only saving 10% from the payroll) will soon be absorbed (as increasing demand fuels higher prices and creates more profit).

The real problem, which the great minds have not seen because they kept focusing on the trees and not what was happening in the forest, is that our jobs were lost because of technology and we should have shared the jobs that remained. In that way everyone shares in the benefit that technology has brought us, not just the capitalist, who doesn't have to pay the robots and the computers who do work that he had to pay for in the past.

Rocker science, it isn't. Sorry, Germans, the Greeks don't have to work six days a week, they will be able to devalue their drachma and enjoy the life style that the all the southern countries share and remain in the E.U. The answer is to work less, not more, dumb ass!.

Deep in the heart of every German is someone who strictly divides their life up into little pigeon-holes. This is my work, this is my home, this is my hobby, etc. One see this at work very often - the 'not my job' attitude. Need everyone to pitch in to solve a problem? Need someone to make a small sacrifice? Need someone to go a little bit above and beyond? "Not my job." This is the 'mentality' problem.

There there is the other side - the 'morality' problem. You queue in a supermarket and suddenly a new till opens - do you distribute yourself evenly between the queues, bearing in mind to let those who were ahead of you before remain ahead of you in one queue or the other? Or do you move as fast as you can to get yourself ahead, without regard for anyone else? This is the "Why should I help someone else?" attitude.

Cast your mind back to the end of WW2 and ask what would Germany be like now if the Allies had not stepped in and helped get Germany back on its feet. Did they have to? Was it their job? Were they even morally obliged to? They did it nevertheless. You could argue that it was in everyone's best interest to stabilize Germany and to build its industrial base up again. Isn't it in Germany's interest to have politically and economically stable neighbours?

It's Germany's time to step forward and go beyond itself. Merkel needs to go on TV and explain to Germany, and it's neighbours, how Germany is going to up its game - its mentality and its morality - and how the other countries need to cooperate to solve the problems they have, not by simply handing over or receiving money but also by assisting in practical ways in cooperation.

Likosmokeses, german rules are crap and are bringing germany in a disaster in terms of old people not having money to live and youngs not getting permanent contracts as they give them the 400 euro jobs (the 400 Euros job rule created to keep the unemployement rate down, but killing standard of living of 20% of the Germans)

Why should countries with better quality of life should follow this crap? Just play as a partner and look at the big picture, and stop thinking you are better than the others, u are not, u have strenghts and weaknesses as all other populations.

As more and more people are now saying: Germany, make up your mind, either get out of Europe OR play as a partner in Europe. Noone needs you as a boss, and noone wants to be colonialized by u

The president of Germany's Council of Psychotherapists said on Tuesday that there was no reason why the country should loosen its rules on doctor-patient confidentiality in the wake of the Germanwings crash.
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